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 President Barack Obama will focus on those benefits at a White
House event Tuesday. Flanked by Americans who the White House says
have benefited from the overhaul, the president will try to remind
Americans that his health law is preventing insurance discrimination
against those with pre-existing conditions and is allowing young
people to stay on their parents' coverage until age 26. He'll also
take aim at Republicans, arguing that the GOP is trying to strip
away those benefits without presenting an alternative.
Behind the scenes, the administration is furiously trying to rectify
an unresolved issue with enrollment data that could become a
significant headache after the first of the year. Insurers say much
of the enrollment data they're receiving is practically useless,
meaning some consumers might not be able to get access to benefits
on Jan. 1, the date their coverage is scheduled to take effect.
On Monday, administration officials and insurance company
representatives began holding daily 7 a.m. meetings to discuss the
enrollment data. Officials at the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare
Services — the department overseeing the insurance exchanges — are
also personally reaching out to individuals who have enrolled online
to make sure their information is correct and that they are sending
payments. Call center representatives are doing the same with people
who enrolled over the phone.
"We are very mindful of making sure that consumers who want coverage
starting in January are able to get it," White House spokesman Jay
Carney said.
The White House's approach comes as Obama tries to recover from the
deeply flawed rollout of his signature legislation. The failures
have emboldened Republicans, put Democratic lawmakers facing
re-election on edge, and contributed to a drop in Obama's overall
job approval rating.
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Obama had set a Nov. 30 deadline for ensuring that the website was
working properly for the vast majority of users. While
administration officials declared over the weekend that they had met
their goal, counselors helping people use the online health exchange
gave the updated site mixed reviews, with some zipping through the
application process while others are facing the same old sputters
and even crashes.
The website troubles resulted in significantly lower enrollment than
what administration officials had hoped for and it's questionable
whether the program will reach the 7 million sign-ups predicted by
the Congressional Budget Office. The sign-up period runs through
March 31.
But officials now say they are no longer as concerned about the
overall number. They say the insurance exchanges will succeed
regardless of the total, as long as about one-third of those who
sign up are healthy in order to offset the cost of those with more
expensive health problems.
"Our goal is to make sure that everybody who wants to enroll through
the exchanges is able to do so during the open enrollment period,"
Carney said. "We believe those numbers will be sufficient and that
the pool of people who enroll will be of the necessary diversity to
make sure that the ACA works as envisioned."
The White House says it is buoyed by high traffic flocking to the
website. As of Monday at noon, the site had about 375,000 visitors.
However, officials would not say how many of those had actually
enrolled in the insurance policies.
[Associated
Press; JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent]
Follow Julie Pace at
http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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